The Enrichment Center
by Lukadoesfanfiction
Summary: Chell awakens in a completely unfamiliar building with no memory of her past, and is told she will be put through a series of tests. Can she make it out alive? Rated T for language and violence
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 - AWAKENING

"The cake is a lie the cake is a lie the cake is a lie the cake is a lie the cake is a lie"

Chell woke with a start, and took in the scene around her. She quickly realized that she was laying down inside of a cryo pod. She has always hated these things, they made her extremely claustrophobic, so you can imagine her immense relief when the glass slid open automatically. Hoisting herself out of the pod, she observed her environment once again, though it was still not quite the definition of satisfactory. She appeared to be in a glass box, containing a small table with a clipboard resting on top, there was also a radio, playing an upbeat tune which helped to calm the nerves, finally, there was a rather stained and repulsive looking toilet, which Chell quickly closed the lid on as to no longer have to look at said stains. She took the clipboard in her hands and looked over it quickly. It contained nothing but images of black stick figures suffering in various ways with large Xs over them, such as being decked in the head with a cube, drowning in brown, murky water, and being shot at by a spherical object with stubby black legs. It was unnerving to say the least.

A voice began to speak to her over the intercom, with a welcoming and calming however stagnant and mechanical sound. "Hello and again welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center." Aperture Science? Chell didn't recall anything about where she was or even who she was for that matter. She blamed it on just waking up from stasis. "We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault was a pleasant one." Pleasant? Chell thought, you could hardly call this place pleasant. There was something off that Chell just could not manage to put her finger on, but she didn't like any of it. "Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper." Test? Hearing those words managed to wake something within her, and she remembered that she was selected to take part in a test. A test of what kind, she had no idea, and still didn't remember anything about an "Aperture Science". "Although fun, and learning are the main goals of any enrichment center activity, serious injury may occur, for your safety and the safety of others, please refrain fro—" Chell practically jumped out of her skin as the LED lights above flickered on and off twice, plunging her in and out of pitch blackness, before sparks began to fall from the roof and the voice snapped back into action, in a language Chell couldn't understand. "Por favor bord˜n de fellar. Muchos gracias de fellar gracias—" There was another spark from the roof before the voice continued normally, "-tand back, the portal will open in three, two, one." Before Chell could even process what had just happened, she stared in awe as she heard a slight whooshing sound before a hole opened in the wall in front of her, with a glowing orange rim, through it, she could see...herself, through the glass walking her in the container. Turning to the right she also saw herself, outside of the glass, peering in through another gateway, with a blue rim. So this was a portal, it was completely mind boggling. Chell took a moment to collect herself and took this opportunity to inspect her current condition. She was a tall woman at 5"10, with deep black (and rather messy given the situation) hair which flowed downward to shoulder length. She was wearing an orange, almost skin tight jumpsuit with the label, "APERTURE SCIENCE SUBJECT 004" emblazoned on the right breast. She spied something different about her legs, and found it almost immediately. There was a metal bar piercing her knee, connecting downwards to her feet, though it didn't quite feel painful. She had no idea what purpose any of this served but figured she ought to step through the portal already. So without hesitation she leaped through.

Leaping right out from the other side, she found herself in a hallway, lined with white, stainless, impossibly clean tiles, which curved around the glass chamber she had woke inside of and led to parts unknown. Stepping down the hallway she began to regain a bit of her composure, not feeling quite so groggy anymore. As she reached the end of the hall into an archway a bright LED sign flickered to life to her right, reading "TEST CHAMBER 00" Chell spent a moment wondering why they needed a "0th" test chamber before continuing into the room ahead, which was completely empty aside from a large red button, and some kind of tube on the roof. Before Chell had any time to ponder the purpose of this room the seal on the end of the tube opened and dropped out a metal cube emblazoned with what Chell had come to recognize as the Aperture logo. The serene, mechanical voice came to life once again. "The Aperture Science Vital Apparatus Vent has delivered a weighted storage cube. Please use it to proceed." Knowing almost immediately what to do, she picked up the surprisingly heavy cube and waddled with it over to the button, weighing it down and opening a sliding metal door in the north of the room, behind which was a short hallway leading to an elevator door. "Congratulations on completing your first test. Please enter the chamber lock, before you proceed, please note the incandescent particle field across the exit,". There was indeed a field across the exit, made up of transparent blue particles. Chell experimentally reached her arm across it and found it was entirely harmless. "This is the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grille, and is designed to prevent unauthorized materials from leaving the test chamber. For example, the Aperture science weighted storage cube." Noting this, Chell walked through the grille and approached the double doors of the elevator, which opened automatically. Chell stepped inside tentatively and the doors closed behind her, locking her in the padded chamber. More easy listening music played as the lift lowered deeper into the ground and Chell anxiously tapped away at the ground with her foot. So far she had no idea where she was, was being tested for something, and there was no sign of human life anywhere. Chell was very confused, but this was certainly going to be interesting.

(Authors note -

Hello! This is going to be my first big project on the site which is heavily inspired by the Half Life themed work of Super Chocolate Bear and will serve as a full novellization of Portal and will also tie in with Half Life in certain areas. I will finish this story, though I may upload chapters at Valve speed because I sort of just write when I feel like it. Review please! Constructive feedback is welcome! I'm looking for someone as well to do beta work if you would like but I'm perfectly content doing so myself if no one is up to the task. Take care everyone!) 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2- TASTE OF BLOOD

Chell, who was still deep in thought, was shocked momentarily when the elevator door behind her jerked open. Whirling around before quickly regaining her composure, she entered the boring tiled hallway that awaited her. Another LED sign flickered to life in front of her as she was about to turn a corner. "TEST CHAMBER 01" She noticed something about this sign that had slipped her mind in the previous room. Underneath the main bolded letters was a series of icons like the ones she had seen on the clipboard. Ten in total, most of stickmen suffering unfortunate deaths, and the last one being a cake. Only one was lit up currently, the one depicting a stickman having his head crushed in with a block. These simple, rather humorous images put Chell on edge in the current circumstances.

Continuing down the corridor she encountered a steep ledge, one certainly tall enough to injure her if she attempted to jump. Unfortunately, she didn't really have any other options. She swallowed hard before stepping casually off the ledge. To her surprise, she felt no pain upon landing, though did her a creaking sound from her legs. She moved her gaze back to the metal rods inserted into her knees, and extending downwards below her feet. That's when it clicked, the rods were absorbing the impact of the fall! Chell felt much more confident knowing that she could jump from any height and survive, striding down the corridor and arriving in what seemed to be the test proper.

Chell observed before her a small intersection of a room. The left side held a button, the right side held a cube, and the north side held a door. Seemed simple enough, the only problem was, each side of the room was separated by glass. Her first guess was to try smashing it, but somehow she knew that would only lead to an injured fist. The voice overhead piped back to life. "Please place the Aperture science weighted companion cube onto the Aperture science super colliding heavy duty super button." Well what good that message was. Chell already knew she needed to get the cube to the button, but how? As if to answer her question, an orange rimmed portal opened behind her with a mesmerizing whoosh. A blue rimmed portal opened behind the glass of the right side of the room. Chell strode through the portal and lifted up the once again surprisingly heavy cube. Her heart sank when the portal in front of her closed. She was stuck. She watched helplessly as the portal appeared on the left side, the north side, and then...back again? Thank god. She sighed with relief before lugging the cube back to the center of the room, waited for the portal to reorient itself, and then dragged it into the right side. With one final grunt of exertion, she placed it on the button.

She turned her attention to the logo on the box once again. Aperture Science...Aperture Science... Unlike last time, the name seemed to stir something within her, but she was still unsure of what. Dammit, that thought had cost her another portal rotation. The voice above ripped Chell out of her thoughts. "You are doing a great job! Please proceed to the chamber lock, as the side effects of exposure to the button are not part of the test." Chell eyed the button nervously. Side effects? Was the thing made of asbestos or something? A few moments later and Chell had arrived at the chamber lock. Stepping through the door closed behind her once again, followed by the elevator door. Chell could tell this was going to become routine pretty easily.

The doors to the next chamber slid open revealing another corridor of the same shade and design as the previous. At the end was another panel of glass, overlooking a room with multiple ledges and a pedestal in the center of it all, on top of the pedestal was a mysterious object which Chell could not classify. She wanted to get a closer look at it but the only way out from behind the glass was a locked door to her right. The speakers buzzed to life and the voice continued its monologue. "If you notice any taste of blood, please note this is not a part of testing protocol, and is rather a side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grille. Which in semi-rare cases, may emancipate dental fillings, braces, tooth enamel, and teeth." Chell was caught off guard by the last line, the voice said it so calmly she was almost fooled into glossing over the meaning the words carried.

Chell's attention was brought back to the present moment when the door opened with a hiss and allowed her access to the test. There was another LED sign, but it was the exact same as the previous sans the number being one higher. Chell immediately jumped off the ledge she was on to the bottom of the room and watched the curious object on the stand as it turned her way and...Chell leaped out of the way before she was impaled by a pellet from the object which she now recognized as a gun. It was so obvious now that she thought about it. There was a black tube in the center, serving as a barrel, and surrounding it were chrome plates with, of course, the Aperture Science logo shining proudly on them. There was a handle on the bottom with a trigger. A projectile weapon? Okay but what for? That's when Chell realized, there was now a blue rimmed portal behind her where the pellet had landed. It was a portal gun. A portal gun! How cool was that!?

Chell immediately yanked the gun off its pedestal, aimed it at a wall, and pulled the trigger. Sure enough a blue rimmed portal was now present exactly where she aimed the gun. To ruin Chell's fun with another monologue, the voice came back to life, which Chell was getting a little tired of because most of the time it didn't say anything she didn't already know. "You appears to have acquired the Aperture Science Handheld Quantum Tunneling Device. Use it to reach the chamber lock. The chamber lock was a couple of levels above Chell, but rather conveniently had an orange rimmed portal positioned on the wall next to it. Chell leaped into the portal she had already created and out the other side. It still blew her mind how she could be in one place and then somewhere else almost instantly using these portals.

The voice didn't have anything to say when she was exiting through the chamber lock this time, and Chell preferred it that way. She always enjoyed figuring things out herself rather than having them told to her. Granted, it didn't really need to tell her how to enter an elevator and stand there as it descended, but Chell still was fond of not being told to do for once, and she was only three chambers in.

(Author's note - sorry I took a bit to get this one out. I didn't feel very motivated for a while but getting a review helped remind me I actually had an audience who were waiting, so thanks!  
I tried to follow your advice and separate the paragraphs a little better. Tell me what you think please, and that goes for all of you!)


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